Anyone who has ever seen an episode of Say Yes To The Dress knows just how many family fights can come from shopping for a wedding dress. And a recent post on the AITA subreddit just might take the dress drama cake.
One man explained to the internet that when his sister got engaged last year, she asked his 17-year-old son to make her wedding dress.
“My son has always loved design and fashion, he took technical courses in these areas and sewing, and even his friends keep asking for his clothes because they are so beautiful,” the man said in his original post.
He said that at first his sister was “very annoying” about the whole process.
Eek! OK, but brides are allowed to have feelings about their dress, and his son said at the onset that “he would need her opinion constantly.” His son drew about 50 dress designs in a month. Which is like … really impressive. I’ve had an adult coloring book for four years, and I’ve only colored three pages.
After the bride picked a design, her nephew made it with “great quality fabric” which the OP paid for since he “wanted to get involved.”
“For five months, [my son] made several adjustments to suit her wishes, as she always complained about something,” he wrote.
Again, yikes. But OK, we’ll give her some leeway.
“After a while, he arrived [finished the dress] and it was just amazing,” the proud father wrote. “My mother cried seeing my sister in the dress, and I confess that I almost got emotional too.”
So now we have a gorgeous custom-made dress that has major sentimental value. The bride should be thrilled, and the family should be looking forward to the wedding.
But of course, you knew a bridal shoe had to drop.
Two weeks before the wedding, the OP’s son still had not received an invitation. The man asked his sister about the holdup (which was surely just a mistake), and she said she didn’t want underage people at her wedding because there would be alcohol.
But come on. She would definitely make an exception for her nephew who made her wedding dress and is the only minor in the family (and at 17 years old, not even really a minor minor). Right? Right?!
Nope. This bridezilla did not have cold feet about this decision that, understandably, made her hardworking nephew cry.
“I was very upset and told my sister [one week before the wedding] that she should look for another dress as soon as possible, as she would no longer wear the one my son made,” he said.
“She called and yelled at me, saying I was being unreasonable and that I couldn’t do this,” he continued.
And his sister was not the only one. Though his family is now divided — with some “condemning the sister’s actions” and others saying he is “being unreasonable and spoiling her day” — nearly 5,000 Redditors in just nine hours agreed that this man is not the a-hole.
Even we agree. We are at least glad that this bride wants to be clothed, and we are nearly always on the side of “your day, your way” — especially if disruptive toddlers are involved!— but she is being absolutely outrageous. Her 17-year-old nephew spent months handmaking her wedding dress for free, and she won’t even invite him to the wedding?
Users were lining up to poke holes in this bride’s bullsh*t excuse:
“Does she think kids can’t go to restaurants that serve alcohol?” one user asked.
“He’s responsible enough to make a WEDDING DRESS, but heaven forbid he should be around alcohol! Who knows what would happen!” another said sarcastically.
“There is no reason that a minor cannot attend a wedding with an open bar as everyone venue I looked at for my wedding, and ever open bar wedding I have attended, has had a bartender that checked ID’s.”
Right. Does she think the venue will just take her word that there aren’t minors present?
“I would bet money the reason she invented this rule to exclude him is BECAUSE he designed the dress,” one commenter said. “People will see the dress, say the dress is beautiful, and she doesn’t want to have to say, ‘Thanks, my nephew designed it,’ with him there, because then he’ll receive a lot of attention that she wants all on her.”
Plus, how is his aunt only thinking to share this news now, two weeks before the wedding and only because she was prompted to do so? So sure, the news that she needs to buy a wedding so close to the Big Day could be considered unfair (psst: We couldn’t find anyone that felt that way), but she sprung Big News on her family at the last minute, too.
OP can make things even more last-minute by mailing the dress as his sister’s wedding present, one commenter said.
“Schedule delivery for the venue during the reception. Say ‘Oops! I wasn’t sure of the date/time, because I wasn’t invited … anyway, congratulations!’”
So where else can this man and his son go from here?
First of all, the internet says this woman needs to pay up. Does she not understand how expensive it would have been to get a custom dress from a professional designer? We’ve watched enough episodes of SYTTD to know that it’s tens of thousands of dollars.
“So your sister can’t have children at her wedding, but [she can] use your son as child labor to make her wedding dress?”
“Your son should post it online for sale and if she wants it, she can pay for it, but she’s not getting it for free,” someone said. “She better hurry up before someone else snatches it.”
If she does end up paying for it, users want her to also be charged the “a-hole tax,” and we can’t fight them on that.
And beyond the fact that he undoubtedly deserves to be paid and “to see his hard work and creation come to life, and his talent be celebrated by the other guests,” he should be able to be there to support his aunt, who he clearly loves (apparently more than she loves him).
If payment or an invite is just not in the cards, Redditors say the dad or son should wear the dress to the wedding: “You know it’s bad when AITA says to wear a wedding dress to somebody else’s wedding.”